Teen gets 6 years

Convicted in burglary in which accomplice was shot and killed

January 30, 2014

WARREN - An 18-year-old Niles man was sentenced to six years behind bars Wednesday for his role in a deadly attempted burglary that was quashed by the homeowner who shot through a door, killing an accomplice.

Scott Crislip, the youngest of five people involved in the Niles burglary, apologized to victims. ''We didn't intend for anyone to be harmed,'' he told Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and attempted aggravated burglary.

Crislip, of South Cedar Street, was among three men who were attempting to break into a home early July 2 on Niles Cortland Road near U.S. Route 422 when the homeowner fired a shotgun blast through the front door, killing Terry Allen, 37, of Mineral Ridge, who was wearing latex gloves and held a crowbar.

Assistant county prosecutor Chris Becker said the men were trying to find scrap copper inside the house to steal and sell so they could use the proceeds to go to the local county fair.

They tried to break into another vacant house that had already been looted but were then met with the shotgun blast at the Niles Cortland Road home of Roy Hahn, 41. Hahn was cleared by authorities after an investigation by the Trumbull County prosecutor.

It was earlier this month that 34-year-old Michael Burns was sentenced to 11 years behind bars for his role as one of the men who tried to break into the homes.

Burns suffered a wound to his upper right arm from the same blast that killed Allen.

A jury convicted Burns of the attempted aggravated burglary and the first-degree felony version of involuntary manslaughter. The jury discarded an option of finding Burns guilty of murder, which could have meant a life sentence with parole eligibility after 15 years.

Mindy Sierra, 32, of Niles, one of two women who dropped off the three men and planned to pick them up after the break-in, was sentenced to two years in prison last week.

Becker said Sierra and a second woman, Nichole Allen, 36, of Mineral Ridge, and the wife of Terry Allen, helped plan the burglaries.

Nichole Allen faces a pre-trial and possible plea this morning in front of Judge Ronald Rice.